Baerren: Sajak’s stinkbombs of hindrance

On the climate front, the last few weeks has been a drumbeat of bad news; actual terrible news.

The latest National Climate Assessment that said that we are today feeling the impacts of climate change faster than previously imagined. This was followed by an update to a report by a group of military consultants -- retired admirals and generals -- that said that climate change is creating new and terrible national security challenges from political instability in Sub-Saharan Africa to a power vacuum in an increasingly ice-free Arctic. This was followed by the announcement that a significant portion of the Western Antarctic ice sheet has begun an irreversible melting process that when completed in two centuries will have raised sea levels by two feet.

Finally, could it be time to have a substantive conversation on how to address climate change?

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The answer came by way of Tweet.

Pat Sajak, the genial game show host, summed up his feelings thusly: “I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends. Good night.”

Well, good night yourself, sir.

Sajak has history on this issue. Back in 2008, as a contributor to Human Events, he wrote that people who believe in climate change are invited to stop driving cars, live in homes the size of bread boxes and develop a secret handshake that they can share with like-minded folks.

A bit of context here: Sajak had spent part of the month trolling Twitter over climate change. And, after a climate scientist asked him whether he really wanted to question the patriotism of the military brass, Sajak Tweeted that he occasionally likes to poke at hornets’ nests to see what he can stir up.

This isn’t about clumsy use of social media, however. This is about a critical issue that’s been boiled down to a basketball game. If you look at all into the coverage of the thing, you’ll find something rather important missing: Why does Pat Sajak consider himself a skeptic of climate change? He gives no impression of knowing anything about the science of climate change, only that he doesn’t think the phenomenon is real and finds the people who do a little weird. In fact, in 2007, he wrote a column asking questions about climate change. The answers to each of them are readily available with even a quick, cursory search of the Internet. He appeared more interested in asking the questions and having them answered.

If this was just about one famous game show host and his political beliefs, it would be easy to wave it off. He’s entitled to his opinions, and Twitter is a fine, fine place to expess them.

Trouble is that he doesn’t speak in a vacuum. He speaks for a very substantial number of people who don’t believe in climate change without knowing anything about it. How many? About 25 percent of the population, who say they will never be swayed to taking it seriously.

You can blame the systematic, deliberate misinformation campaign by the fossil fuel industry for part of that, natural human revulsion to substantial lifestyle change for another. It has to be stated, again, that Sajak’s tweet came after two reports and dire climate news from Antarctica. If he wanted serious answers to serious questions, he has more than enough material to find them.

He didn’t, instead ignoring the science and launching Twitter stinkbombs. A lot of people were upset by that, which they shouldn’t be. What should upset them was that it served as a reminder that in addressing the most pressing challenge humanity faces this century that we’ll have to learn to accept that about one in four of us can be counted on to not only not help, but to provide active hindrance.

Eric Baerren is a Morning Sun columnist. He can also be found at the website Michigan Liberal and can be

reached at ebaerren@gmail.com.

About the Author

Eric Baerren is a Morning Sun columnist. He can be found at www.michiganliberal.com and can be reached at ebaerren@gmail.com. Reach the author at ebaerren@gmail.com
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